The LOT’s Mary Poppins has some magical moments amidst amazing music
We are all familiar with PL Travers’ no nonsense British Nanny Mary Poppins, whether we encountered her in the original books or were a fan of the 1964 Disney classic starring Julie Andrews.
Now an Olivier and Tony Award nominated musical adaptation, with music by Richard and Robert Sherman, Stiles, and Drewe—and a book by Julian Fellowes—brings even more colour to the lives of the Banks family at the Lower Ossington Theatre.
Joyful Noise gives Handel’s Messiah a humourous twist, on Toronto stages
George Frederick Handel’s ‘Messiah’ is considered one of the greatest and most frequently performed choral compositions of all time, most commonly recognized for its ‘Hallelujah Chorus’.
However, the backstory of its naissance was full of scandal, struggle and controversy. Naturally, it lends itself to a dramatic retelling in the theatre, in Tim Slover’s Joyful Noise, currently playing at the Papermill Theatre as part of the East Side Players’ 50th Anniversary Season.
This comic drama is a tale of envy, ego, and the stress that success can put on friendship. Two aspiring young writers, David (Šimon Mizera) and Benjamin (Michael-David Blostein) seem only to have a relationship of convenience, obligation and curiosity. Having been ‘frenemies’ at summer camp, their adult companionship now seems only to exist so that they can check in with what the other is up to in their career, and then compare.
Harold Pinter’s memory play takes to the Toronto stage
First performed by the Royal Shakespeare Company in 1971, Toronto indie theatre company Unit 102 Actors Co. have brought Harold Pinter’s Tony Award winning play Old Times to The Dirt Underneath. Old Times is categorized as one of Pinter’s ‘memory plays,’ where he explores the ambiguities and fluidity of memory and how our recollection of past events can affect the dynamics and relationships of the present and future.
Joyful Noise gives Handel’s Messiah a humourous twist, on Toronto stages
Foxglove Theatre presents a tale of envy and ego on stage in Toronto
Harold Pinter’s memory play takes to the Toronto stage